


Old Friends

by Emjen_Enla



Series: Prompted Works [23]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Arguing, Cafeterias, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gansey gets angry, Gen, OC is a dick, Set sometime during the series, high school parties, school lunch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 00:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20300362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emjen_Enla/pseuds/Emjen_Enla
Summary: Gansey and Ronan lost some friends after Niall Lynch died. Turns out those old friends only have a problem with Ronan. Gansey is not happy. Written for Gansey Week day seven "Fight."





	Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This is somewhat influenced by a post I saw talking about Gansey and Ronan’s friends before Niall Lynch died, though of course I can’t find it now though I swear I reblogged it. Basically, this is an attempted explanation for what’s going on with all the other people the books say Gansey is friendly with but who never get named. I’m also using the “Ronan played tennis” thing; I can’t remember if that’s canon or headcanon. Also I’m headcanoning that Gansey quits crew had some point because in canon he literally never goes to practice as far as I recall.

Ronan had skipped out again. He’d been gone when Gansey had woken up, and Gansey had slept deeply enough the night before that he wasn’t sure when Ronan had left. He was worried. He had tried calling Ronan, but of course he hadn’t answered. With no other choice, he’d gone to school and hoped that Ronan hadn’t wrecked his car somewhere.

Lunch came with no sign from Ronan. Gansey hung back by his locker for a couple minutes to try calling him again. Still no answer. After a couple of unanswered calls he sent a text  _ (Just let me know that you’re alive! _ ) and got the middle finger emoji in response, so at least he knew that Ronan wasn’t dead in a ditch somewhere.

He made his way to the cafeteria and ordered his lunch. He could see Adam already sitting at their usual table, shoulders hunched as if that would make people less likely to notice his solitary peanut butter sandwich. Normally Ronan shared his lunch with Adam, but given that he was gone Gansey got an extra packet of fries which would probably just make Adam angry.

“Hey, Gansey,” A boy lounged carelessly against the counter while Gansey paid for his food.

“Hello, Hayes,” Gansey said putting his credit card “How have you been?”

Hayes Leighton was on the Aglionby tennis team and had been one of Ronan’s friends before Gansey had met him. He’d been Gansey’s friend for a while too, though they’d had a falling out in the aftermath of Niall Lynch’s death. Gansey hadn’t talked to Hayes in a while and he wasn’t quite sure why Hayes was talking to him now.

“I’ve been well,” Hayes said with the sort of practiced smoothness that most Aglionby boys had when they made small talk. “Tennis practice is going well. I think we might do really well this year.” He didn’t ask if Ronan missed tennis, but then Gansey hadn’t expected him to.

“That’s good to hear,” Gansey said, stepping away from the lunch line so the next person could pay for their food. “I wish you luck.”

“What about you?” Hayes asked. He snatched one of Gansey’s fries and popped it into his mouth, chewing loudly. Gansey tensed with annoyance though he wasn’t sure why given that he had too many fries and Adam was unlikely to eat any. “I heard you quit crew.”

That was unsurprising. The fact that Gansey had quit crew had been almost as gossiped about as Ronan’s reaction to his father’s death. Gansey had only joined crew to maintain the illusion that he was a normal Aglionby student, but as the things with Glendower and everything else got more and more demanding something had to give. Gansey couldn’t expect most of Aglionby to understand the choice though; he was perfectly aware that crew had been all keeping most of the students from outright acknowledging how eccentric he actually was.

“Yeah, I couldn’t dedicate enough time to it.” Gansey said. “I didn’t want to hold the team back because I wasn’t able to commit.”

“I can respect that,” Hayes said, taking another fry. Gansey tried to move the tray out of Hayes’s reach without him noticing.

“You know, I’m having a party at a Airbnb outside of town on Friday,” Hayes said. “There’s going to be alcohol and local girls,” he raised his eyebrows suggestively. “You should come.”

Gansey had a sudden, very vivid image of what Blue would say if she could hear this conversation. “Forgive me for being dense,” he said, “but I thought you said I wasn’t welcome at anymore of your parties.”

“Not you,” Hayes said like Gansey was missing the point. “You’re welcome any time. Lynch,” he made a face. “Lynch needs to stay as far away from my parties as humanly possible.”

A few weeks after Niall Lynch had died, Ronan had gone to one of Hayes’s parties. Hayes Leighton’s parties did not have the kind of infamy that Kavinsky’s substance parties did, but if drugs weren’t your thing then Hayes’s parties were the best you could get. Gansey didn’t like parties, period, but he’d been worried about Ronan so he’d come along. To say it had been a fiasco would be putting it lightly. Gansey was trying not to think about the whole affair, but that was different than saying that he’d forgotten how Hayes had thrown them out shouting not to come back.

“Really?” Gansey asked. “That was not the impression I got.”

Hayes rolled his eyes. “Gansey, don’t play stupid. I’m not sure if you were even drinking. Lynch was acting insane and if I let him come to my parties people will stop coming. You can totally come; everyone likes you. Lynch can go to Kavinsky’s substance parties where he belongs.”

Gansey had never been told he was likeable in a way that made it feel like an insult before. The fact that it was obvious Hayes meant it as a compliment made it even worse. “You know, Ronan was your friend before I was,” Gansey said, trying to figure out how best to handle the situation.

“Yeah, but you didn’t go off the deep end and become a punk,” Hayes said. “So Lynch’s daddy died. Big deal. Most people just deal with it instead of making a big show of it all the time. The rest of us shouldn’t have to put up with him acting out just because he’s not getting enough attention.”

That was exactly the wrong thing to say. Gansey had been accused of acting out in the hopes of getting attention as a child after he’d died from the hornets, and if he was completely honest with himself (which he often wasn’t on this subject) that was one of the major reasons he’d stopped being open about that sort of thing. At this point he almost believed that he had been looking for attention, but he knew that Ronan wasn’t. Ronan was hurting and it was wrong of his friends to abandon him just because he was hurting in a way that they didn’t find seemly.

“I’m not coming to your party,” he told Hayes. “In fact, I would greatly prefer it if you never speak to me again.”

Hayes looked genuinely shocked. “Why? What did I say?”

Gansey’s tightened his grip on his lunch tray, he was shaking so badly that he was afraid he was going to drop it. This would be the point where Ronan would punch someone, Adam would start yelling and Blue would pull out that look of disdain she had that could freeze an entire room. Gansey wished that he could do any one of those things and truly make Hayes understand how angry he was, but Gansey was a Gansey and Ganseys didn’t make a scene. They spoke softly and somehow made the other person feel guilty for daring the stand against them by sheer politeness. Gansey had never been at making people feel like they should agree with him, but he was, unfortunately, far too good at not making a scene.

“I don’t care what you think,” Gansey told Hayes trying to be as confrontational as possible. He still felt like his tone of voice was too calm. “I have the ability to decide who I hang out with, and I choose Ronan.”

“You’re too good for him,” Hayes said. “He doesn’t give a shit about anything but himself, least of all you. It’s time for you to wake up and see that.”

“Get one thing straight,” Gansey snapped, his voice finally rising enough to catch the attention of a couple of the people in the lunch line. “Ronan is my best friend,” he said tightly. “You do not talk badly about him, and you don’t get to talk about how I’m good enough to hang out with you but he’s not.”

Hayes blinked in surprise. He probably should have been surprised; he’d done the impossible and made a Gansey raise their voice. “I-”

“Is everything alright over here?” The lunch monitor strode up. Aglionby lunch monitors were like hawks, making sure every shred of strife which might damage the school’s reputation was contained. “Gentlemen, tone it down! There are prospective students here today!”

Gansey hadn’t even noticed the presence of a couple middle school boys sitting at one of the tables watching with interest. He wanted to say more, to make Hayes take the things he said about Ronan back, but if he made a scene in front of the prospectives he’d get detention. Unlike Ronan, the idea of that bothered him. “It’s fine,” he said stepping away from Hayes. “Everything’s fine.”

He walked away, his shoulders tight and his hands still shaking. He wondered if he’d feel better now if he’d punched Hayes. Maybe Ronan had the right idea.

“What happened?” Adam asked when Gansey reached their table. “What did Hayes want?”

“Nothing,” Gansey almost but not quite slammed the tray onto the table and sat down. He pushed one of the packets of fries towards Adam. “Here, these are for you.”

Adam tensed. “I don’t-”

“Adam,” Gansey said. He meant to sound calm but his voice still contained some of the sharpness which it had had during his fight with Hayes. “I am not in the mood. Eat the fries and if it bothers you so much you can buy me coffee some time.”

Adam looked like he wanted to argue but then stopped. He looked from Gansey to where Hayes had returned to the table where Gansey and Ronan used to sit. Hayes was talking to their old friends, his face twisted in frustration. Gansey was glad he couldn’t hear what was being said.

“Fine,” Adam said after a moment. “But I am buying you coffee.” He took a fry and nibbled on it like he was afraid someone would notice.

Gansey forced himself to look away from Hayes. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on something else. “Did you understand what Ms. Woods was talking about in Chemistry?”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “What confused you? I can help…”


End file.
